Subscribe to vickie.life

Tuk Chop, Canberra Airport

If I had known there were only 3 food stops at the Canberra Airport terminal, I would have had a proper dinner elsewhere given all the time I had before the 8 pm flight back to Sydney. I thought about protesting at the airport by going on a hunger strike, until I had a closer look at one of the shops, Tuk Chop. Who could possibly resist a place that serves dumplings as part of their menu and also a wordplay in its name? Certainly not me. Canberra Airport has been forgiven temporarily.

Tuk Chop, Canberra Airport, July 2015: Menu

Tuk Chop, Canberra Airport, July 2015: Bill

Tuk Chop, Canberra Airport, July 2015: Dumpling Fell Apart

Tuk Chop, Canberra Airport, July 2015: Buns and Siu Mai

Tuk Chop, Canberra Airport, July 2015: Dumplings

Tuk Chop, Canberra Airport, July 2015: Pork Bun

Tuk Chop, Canberra Airport, July 2015: Chicken Bun

After a very confusing round of order as I wanted one of each bun ($3 each) and one of each steamed dumplings ($6 for 3) — as in, no, I want one of each streamed dumpling item. No, not one dumpling from one dumpling menu item. Yes, I want a total of 2 buns and 9 dumplings please don’t judge me — I was instructed to sit around the corner. After another 10 minutes or so, these two disposable boxes came with the calling of my name.

Tuk Chop, Canberra Airport, July 2015: Buns and Siu Mai

There is simply no way I could turn these photos into anything pretty, but I have never been one too fussed about the appearance of food.

Tuk Chop, Canberra Airport, July 2015: Dumplings

I am, however, very fussy about redundant redundancy. The dumpling on the menu was listed as “gyoza dumpling” on the menu. “Gyoza” means “dumpling”. “Gyoza dumpling” means “dumpling dumpling”. RAS Syndrome much? Grumble grumble.

Tuk Chop, Canberra Airport, July 2015: The dumpling completely fell apart at any attempt to pick it up with chopsticks

I attempted a half eaten dumpling on chopsticks photo (I really had a lot of time before my flight). I failed. There’s very little filling in the dumplings and the wrapper completely fell apart when I tried to pick them up. I was also a little mystified by the Pork, Prawn and Egg dumpling. It doesn’t have egg as the wrapping so it’s not an egg dumpling (蛋餃), but I also couldn’t taste any egg or much of the prawn in the filling.

Meanwhile, Pork and Chives is a pretty standard filling, and the dumplings tasted pretty standard. At least they weren’t as empty as the curious Pork, Prawn and Egg.

Tuk Chop, Canberra Airport, July 2015: Chicken Bun

Tuk Chop, Canberra Airport, July 2015: Pork Bun

The Chicken Bun had a solid lukewarm blob of minced chicken inside. The barbecue Pork Bun was served at a similar temperature, but the texture was better.

I firmly reminded myself that this is airport fast food, not pricey gourmet, and I probably only paid so much attention to my food because I had so much time to kill. But I still think I have chosen my menu items unwisely tonight. Next time I would probably stay away from the bottom left of the menu.